Overcoming Emotional Flashbacks with Self-Compassion
Emotional flashbacks take a horrendous toll on those who experience them. To feel like you are in danger with all the emotions that accompany it, fear, anxiety, startle, and a myriad of other feelings without understanding where they are coming from is both...
The Little Big Things that Childhood Trauma Keeps us from Doing.
It’s been 13 years since I have been to the dentist. While I finally have insurance now, I fear going. How does someone explain to a doctor their reason for not going to the dentist for 13 years or never having had a pap smear? I prefer nobody to know my history. Even...
Rescuing My Inner Child
I distinctly remember the first time I met my inner child. It was the fall of 2019, and I had just started grappling with the realization that the things I went through with my parents did and do, in fact, affect me deeply. Perhaps this is obvious and easy to you,...
A scientific retreat from triggers
The coronavirus pandemic has forced me (like far too many others) to think further about the world around me in a more precise, exact way. And, I know I am not alone in this. Every detail, all around us, has suddenly become very, very relevant to…. everyone. We have...A Compassionate Guide to Talking about LBGTQ Issues
On November 7, 2017, Virginia voters elected Danica Roem to the Virginia House of Delegates. Roem is the first openly transgender state legislator in America. Her campaign focused on local issues, especially improving traffic problems, which resonated with voters....The Human Autonomic Nervous System and Emotional Flashbacks
Emotional flashbacks are troubling and often disabling events that cause a person to experience alarming and crippling bursts of strong emotions. Emotional flashbacks are experienced without the linked visions from the past that accompany average flashbacks. In this...Death of an Abusive Parent
Let’s talk about this untimely death situation. Well. This is a big topic that I’m not sure how to tackle, per se. Death is a new one to me. I’ve been relatively lucky that way. The death of the person who passed down most of our family trauma… that’s an even...
The Email My Ex-Therapist Never Sent.
To those who have ever been harmed in therapy, I am sorry. To those who continue to ruminate over what happened and are unable to move past it, I can relate. We may never receive the answer we are looking for, but we can learn to be gentle with ourselves. I wrote this...